A group of 39 Islamic missionaries have been arrested for door-to-door distribution of religious pamphlets that said, among other things, that people who worship multiple Gods will burn in hell. The volunteers of ‘Mujahid Wisdom Global Islamic Mission’, who were distributing the material in villages near Kochi, were arrested on complaints by local RSS activists. […]
Kerala’s snaking long queues in front of its liquor shops — the state’s only source of alcohol after bars were banned in 2014 — are almost as famous as the backwaters and beaches, but some relief may be on the horizon for hapless liquor buyers. As there are only about 340 liquor shops in a […]
Eight months on, the Reserve Bank of India is yet to finish verifying and counting the 500- and 1000-rupee notes surrendered by the public between Nov 8 and Dec 30, 2016, the finance ministry said in a statement on Aug 11. UPDATE: About ten days after this article was published on Aug 17, the government […]
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government of India is ramping up defense cooperation with the United States, and will restart COPE INDIA, a mock combat exercise between the US and Indian Air Force. COPE INDIA was first conducted in 2004, and subsequently in 2005, 2006 and 2009, after which it was abandoned. The exercise […]
The write-off of farm loans in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra seems to be encouraging farmers in other states to stop paying back their farm loans to make sure that they will get the benefits of any farm loan waiver program in their state. This has led to a sharp increase in farm loan defaults for […]
Tens of thousands of five-star ratings given to Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV mysteriously disappeared over night, pushing the rating on the channel’s official page to a low of 2.1 stars out of 5.0. It is not clear why the ratings were removed. Over the last three days, the channel has come under a ‘rating attack’ […]
A medical student in Kerala was fined Rs 5,000 and his car impounded for three days after the driver of a State Road Transport Corporation bus complained that the student forced the bus to go slow. Faizal, from Azhiyoor near Mahe, was accused of blocking the way and forcing the ‘Lightning’ service bus to go […]
The Maharashtra unit of Forum for IT Employees said 13 disputes over forced resignations and layoffs at IT organizations have been moved to the labor courts after failed mediation attempts by state labor authorities. 11 of the 13 cases were filed by employees of Tech Mahindra, and one each by those of Wipro and Vodafone, […]
Republic TV, the channel launched by Arnab Goswami — the former editor of Times Now — has come in for a barrage of criticism on social media after Malayalis took offence to what has been portrayed as repeated attempts by the channel to tarnish the reputation of the state. The channel, which used to be […]
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd or HAL continues to run well behind schedule in delivering India’s first indigenous jet fighter, Tejas Mark I. The government-controlled company was supposed to have delivered four Tejas Mark I aircraft by March 2016, and a total of 12 by March 2017, and the entire 20 in the first lot were supposed […]
About 10.6% of adults in India suffer from some sort of mental disorder, including substance abuse problems, a study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences or NIMHANS found. The study was conducted in 12 states of India by the Bangalore-based institution. Those with mental disorders were classified as those with ‘common mental […]
The number of people getting infected with measles, a deadly disease that causes a red rash and is spread through the air, has shown a steady increase in four adjoining states of North India, as well as Gujarat. Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus and can cause complications such as […]
In the old days, wars were fought using armies standing face to face, such as in the first world war. Then came the aeroplanes and the jets, which allowed wars to be fought in the air, and far inland from the front lines, as was seen in the second world war. Fast forward to the […]
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was no law on the use of bitcoin and similar crypto currencies in India, and users of such currencies may not get recourse to legal remedies for any damage. However, Jaitely added that the government has set up a committee that is expected to come up with suggestions for […]
Even as India more or less sticks to the target on adding large solar farms under its ambitious Solar Mission project, the other leg of the plan — rooftop solar — remains woefully behind target. Under the solar mission, India is supposed to have put in 5,000 megawatt of solar plants on the roofs of […]
The Forum for IT Employees, arguably the IT workers rights organization with the largest number of well-wishers and supporters, accused IT companies of using illegal and unethical means to force their workers to submit their resignations. In a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the organization accused the companies of using harassment techniques that […]
Nawaz Sharif is third time unlucky to have to abandon his term as the democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. With the Supreme Court disqualifying him over the corruption cases for ten years, sixty-seven-year-old Sharif’s premiership comes to end one year before his term expires. It also potentially means the termination of an eventful political […]
Smriti Irani, who recently took on the role of the union minister for information and broadcasting has started off with a bang by alleging that the country’s largest news wire distributed photo Chennai floods claiming them to be those of the floods in Gujarat. Unlike her predecessors, who would bring such matters to attention through […]
In the so-called ‘post truth’ politics, facts and ideology do not have a place – it is emotion and rhetoric that counts. When Nitish Kumar decided to part ways with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in late 2013 opposing the elevation of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of its alliance partner BJP, the reason […]
NDTV, the oldest television news channel in India, was forced to withdraw a headline that portrayed gang violence in Dhule in Maharashtra as yet another case of ‘lynching’ in India after readers objected. Many commenters felt that the channel, which has been attempting to project itself as ‘Liberal’ outfit standing up to a ‘right wing’ […]
